It's still more than I want to spend but if it 'works' then it is worth it. I had said previously that if they released a sub $300 box I would probably bite and I have. I will get the first box to try out and if I'm as impressed as I hope to be I will buy one or two more.

Then when Boxee comes out I can compare to that and see what I really want to do. The good thing about the Dune is that the resale on them is outstanding. I could use them for a few months and sell them for 90% of what they sell for new.... Kind of like Apple products!

D1 pre-ordered from Dune Player dot com. The shipping was steep, about the same as what Syabas charged me on my A200 pre-order. Now just need to count off the weeks till it arrives and hope that if I need additional units the wait time won't be too bad.

WOW... Hell Froze Over...First The Eagles reunited, then Jmpage2 came over to the Dune camp. Does this mean we can not argue anymore?

Question I still need answered, why would I need the hard drive? Can I just stream it all off whs with a USB stick for any local storage needed for cover art or whatever?

Some people want to store their actual media on an internal drive instead of setting up a network to stream. The other benefit would be if you are traveling you can load up the internal hdd and bring with you. Really just personal preference

So... looks like the D1 will pretty much do everything (and slightly more) than the Dune 3.0 Base, and cost $100 less?

Sounds perfect to me.

I've got terabytes upon terabytes hanging off a RAID card on my desktop, so I could care less about local storage on the streamer, and the PS3 plays discs fine so I could care less about an optical drive... I just want something that lets me stream any format, including BR ISO with full menus, with full HD audio support, and without paying $300+ for it... sounds like this is finally it.

Honestly I wish they made one without an internal drive bay
and all the USB/Esata ports since I won't use any of that junk, and sell it for $199... but this is still a lot better than anything else I see forthcoming.

Only question, regarding the eventual chip upgrade thing...It's nice they'll offer an upgrade path but I doubt it'll be a cheap option... Other than maybe slightly faster menus, will the 8646 Sigma chip give me anything I care about? I know it'll give gig-e, but since I'm not using storage inside the streamer that's totally useless.

Hmm...there's only one eSata host on the D1, B1, and H1 so how would you connect the two other modules if you purchased later? Looking at the manual is there not a 1080p 60 Hz or 24 Hz video mode?

You would use, USB. the HE extension has a USB slave port(as well as eSATA), and the BE extension has an eSATA port. And I would think the ME extension for the extension boards would only need a USB connection especially if only dealing with tuners.

This is what I've been asking but no one seems to have an answer yet.
If I get one I don't want the depth deeper than a TiVo Premiere.

According to Mike T from Duneplayer.com B1,D1 H1 dimensions are in millimeters:
without legs: 142(w) x 276(d) x 56(h)
with legs: 142(w) x 276(d) x 65(h)
Also, he said sample units on way today or tomorrow and can confirm Sept. delivery as per HDI. Bulk stock will be sent to US via air freight-about one day of shipping then customs clearance.